Stay in my body: I will be the first to admit there were days years back I didn’t want to be a wife, a mom, to teach, run or move—these were the days that I was either uncomfortable in or disconnected from my body.  I was usually avoiding having a specific feeling.  Scratch that.  I was always avoiding having a specific feeling. 

This acknowledgement gives me a more conscious awareness of what’s happening emotionally and energetically behind the thoughts that I’m thinking, which helps me to feel more grounded (even if it’s grounded in a funk) It also helps me to actually feel my body—feel my feelings—which is imperative in terms of being in touch with what I need.

I’m becoming far less tolerant of the emotional shut down, energetic dullness and the physical tightness I feel when I am not present, and I suffocate my emotions and pretend.  Where is the integrity in that?  Without integrity, how can you know yourself from the inside out.  If you don’t know yourself in this way how can you help …how can you be the mom you want to be…how can you coach…how can you really speak to authentic truth, happiness and integrity? 

Staying in my body is about being able to be myself when I am in the pits and when I’m off the wall giddy.  It’s about growing my sensitivity for what it feels like to be in my body.  It’s about noticing  what I do to try to escape  and what works to settle in. 

My left rhomboid is my heartstring… it seizes up and renders nearly impossible for me to turn my head and just plain uncomfortable for me to be in my body.  It gets all knotted up when I’m really scared or sad, frustrated, and/or mad at something. 

So the seeming paradox is that being human and showing vulnerability actually strengthens my ability to be true to myself.

The first ting my counselor told me years ago was to check in with my guidance or intuition. 

I can’t even begin to tell you how much I hang out in my head. I like to figure things out, manage, control, arrange, strategize, direct, plan. Hard for me to stay in my body and out of my head. Being in my head keeps me safe…I can believe whatever I tell it.  I can tell it that I am happy. I can tell it that I am safe and content and emotionally and spiritually full!

Being in your body is scary! But necessary in order to speak of your own experience—the reality of it… not the story you tell yourself and others. Being in your body allows you the ability to connect with your guidance and inner knowing regardless of how terrifying that is. It is only in knowing your truth can you determine your new path. 

In your body…in your heart…is where life actually happens, where the present moment is felt and where reality exists.